CURTAINS ROLL UP
“Tamasha to bas ek tamasha hai, jo jisey bhaa gaya so bhaa gaya.”
Tamasha was a 2015 Imtiaz Ali directorial, Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone starrer film, which received a mixed reaction at the box office, with critics and audiences having a wide range of views about the film. For all I know, either you could love the film, fall for it hopelessly, feel it in the true sense, or you could hate it so much that you’d probably never want to turn to a Imtiaz Ali directorial again. I do agree that maybe the cinematography could have been better at times, the cameras could have been set up at the right angles, and kept steady, maybe things could be simpler and the screen play could be simplified, but then Tamasha was not about all this, it wasn’t about how it was portrayed, rather about how it was felt, how it made you feel. It wasn’t just about a simple love story, one of those clichés that the masses would expect, where a girl and a guy meet at some far-off place, hang out, chill and enjoy together for a couple of days, fall in love, face some challenges and then live happily ever after. It might seem as such but believe me Tamasha had much much more to it than a simple romantic story. It wasn’t about loving some one else, it was about loving yourself, understanding what you truly are, fighting the battle that goes inside each one of us, and most importantly about realizing what you WANT.
For me having favorites is very absurd, because I can’t decide among various things, I mean how can someone? A favorite song, a favorite movie, a favorite place to go, there are so many, how can someone decide? But for the first time, I managed to have a favorite, a favorite film, a favorite experience, and for me it was Tamasha. I don’t see it as a film, I see it as a piece of art, that could only be created by someone who is an intellect at heart, who dives in emotions and makes it seem so effortless, Tamasha could undoubtedly be created only by someone who was crazy, crazy for the work he does, and Imtiaz Ali is just the man. His sanity and purity is evident in his work, and his trio with A.R.Rahman and Irshad Kamil is just a bliss. The album of this film is just so beautiful with the right mixture of spice and solace to it. With meaningful lyrics, enchanting composition, and the whole feel to all the songs, it just blows your mind away if you give it a chance. While “Agar Tum Saath Ho” is a heart touching song, that just comes in at the right time and melts our hearts, “Matargashti” is a fun light hearted tune that one would definitely like to hum or even dance to, “Heer To Badi Sad Hai” and “Wat Wat Wat” add spice, on the contrary “Safarnama” and “Tu Koi Aur Hai” add solace. “Chali Kahani” beautifully and actually very intelligently (lyrics wise) portrays the childhood of the character Ved, who grows up being lost in the mystical and magical world of stories. So the story basically focuses on Ved, played phenomenally by Ranbir Kapoor, who is a man tore apart between what is expected out of him, and what he wants for himself. He grows up listening to stories , and seeing them come alive in front of his eyes. Some people visualize physics, they can see pulleys, springs, and engines working, some people are born mathematicians, they know their algebra the best, they can see what to add, what not to substitute, some people are gifted with the skill of seeing how bonds break and compounds form, but Ved wasn’t one of these people, he couldn’t understand this, he couldn’t see this, but he could visualize and feel every story he heard, he had the talent that no one had, he could convert his feelings to words, he could transform a mere story into a symphony. But as usual the “social stigma” that boasts of destroying many dreams and lives, had it’s successful impact on Ved as well. He was pushed into the race, this bratty competition, where everyone’s running for something or the other, where no one stops and thinks, “Ek second, Kyu?!?!?”
Like everyone else, he accepted his fate, and became a pawn in the game of fulfilling expectations, until, a trip in Corsica comes up. He was unaware that this trip was going to change his life forever. In Corsica he meets Tara, played by Deepika Padukone, who is another tourist in desperate need of someone’s help. That’s when Ved enters and saves the day. He was about to introduce himself when he realizes that no one knows him there, and he could be any one he wanted. So both of them go with the spirit of getting away, introduce themselves as “Don” and “Mona, Darling”, and agree not to reveal their true identities the whole trip, and to never contact each other again, at least that’s what they decide, but destiny had other plans for them. Tara comes back from the trip, but she is mentally and emotionally still with the “Don” she met in Corsica. She realizes that she has fallen for the happy-go-lucky maniac she met on the trip and must confront him. So, by hook and crook she tries finding him, and fortunately she does. They meet 4 years later where they introduce each other as Ved Vardhan Sahni, and Tara Maheshwari. They get along well and go on various dates, only for Tara to realize that this guy was someone else. He was this polite, well behaved product manager, he wasn’t himself. When Tara confronts him , he says what happened in Corsica was a role play and this was his life, to which Tara says, “To phir to mai kisi aur ke saath hu Ved”, because she was, she was in love with the don, the man who talked to mountains and drank water from a stream directly like an animal, the man who knew how to enjoy life. And that is where the war starts, the war between what’s right and what’s not, the war between what to do, and what not. There upon Ved embarks on an exasperating journey of self discovery.
“Every Ved needs a Tara in his life.”
Though it is unquestionable that it was the story of Ved, I strongly believe that Tara was a crucial part of Ved’s journey, and her presence is inevitable. ‘Tara’ like a star led Ved through his journey by illuminating the path for him, she enlightened him with the truth, she made him see who he actually was , she made him reminisce the Ved he himself had forgotten, she ignited the spark within him, she made him fight through all odds, and emerge victorious at the end. She was always there by his side, when he himself wasn’t. She supported him, at a time when he lacked the strength to figure out what was wrong. Most importantly she believed in him when no one else did, not even him, she knew Corsica wasn’t a role play, it was the real Ved.